Just purchased a new optima yellow top for my car. my yellow stinger has been leaking acid for a while and i thought it would be a good investment... turns out the stinger held a way better charge (about 3 times as long) when the car is off... (this is all measuring off the caps volt metre which I can understand is not perfect) Is there a break in time for batteries?

thanks,

NosZex

 

hows it leaking? is it a flooded type?Cracked?

I have had a ton of Optima problems one race car we did went thru 5 red tops(just for starting)

We got replacements but pop them in and same thing the juice is gone after one or two starts and it was not the car.Charge them and same thing(no mater how we charged them)

Batts don`t need break in unless you are conditioning for something like SPL(keep the voltage higher then normal)

Ment to be 80% or more charge in them off the shelf

 

no my old batt was a stinger and it was leaking... but it held it charge way better then the optima...

 

yes I got that much I was wanting to know why and where it was leaking is it a gel or flooded.
As for the optima
Take it back get a replacement as it happens a good bit with them.They have lost quality over the years

 

it was leaking at the negative terminal... it was an spv35 (about 4 yrs old) ...dry cell. But yea I will take the optima back. thanks DDnut.

 

Ah it got a crack in it.This is why I like Kinetiks(drop them from 8 ft and they don`t bust) and Enersys Odyssey batts(split them with an axe and they still won`t leak).When you get your other optima give it a good go after a charge(make them top it up to save you cash on hydro) just so you know if the batt has a problem.

 

sorry if this is news but i didnt charge it (with a proper charger) I just installed it and let the cars alt. charge it... is that still ok? Its voltage goes up to 12.6ish when running but then falls way to fast... 3x faster then the leaky stinger.

 

That is real low with the car running.You sould be in the 13.5v to 14.6v range.Something is wrong I would get the car tested

 

Sorry 12.6ish just AFTER running its @ a normal voltage when running which brings us to the original problem... the new optima drains to fast (with the engine turned off) (man sorry i'm bad at this)

 

Ok with the car off it sits at 12.6v?If so this is common.the optima should be about on par with your stinger(maybe a bit less) but not a whole bunch.Another problem could be you are not giving it enough charge thru the car so you don`t top it up and it drains fast.What amps you running?Are you using a stock Alt?